This invention relates to infusion pumps for delivery of medication to patients, and more particularly to patient controlled analgesic pumps in which the patient commands the infusion pump to deliver the analgesic by pressing a switch at a distal end of a cable connected to the pump controller.
Infusion pumps for delivering pain medications have been on the market for many years. Typically, a patient has one of these devices to control pain post operatively. In use, the physician will set up the device near the patient's bedside and program the instrument to deliver analgesics over time. Typically, there will be a cable attached to the device with a button on the distal end and clipped to the patient's bed. In this manner the patient may press the button to give a bolus of pain reliever if needed to manage pain. Safeguards are built into the system as to how often the patient may deliver pain medication so that the patient doesn't overdose.
A difficulty arises in the lack of security for such systems, in that they permit the administration of analgesics by command of others than the patient or professional caregivers at the care facility. Family members, anxious about a loved one's pain, unwittingly may command the pump to administer more analgesic than the patient needs or wants, or at times when the patient is unconscious, or without the knowledge or consent of the patient, endangering the patient. There is the risk too of the malevolent person who may intend to overdose the patient.
A need exists to permit a patient to deliver pain medication as needed, within the dosing parameters set up in the infusion pump by caregivers, while not allowing the medication delivery equipment to be commanded by other persons.
This invention is directed to that need, and supplies either an add-on to existing patient commanded medication delivery devices or an integrated patient commanded medication delivery apparatus, in either case, in which only the patient can command delivery of the medication on an as needed or wanted basis.